Knitting-machine



4 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

S. HENSHALL.

KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 386,821. Patented July 31. 1888.

FIG. 1.

5v J M ELMJA 'ho raphlr, Wamlngim o. c.

(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 2.

S. HENSHALL.

KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 386,821. Patented July 31, 1888.

' LEI" M A I wag llllllllll (No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3. S. HENSHALL.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Paton-ted July 31 1888. F161.

A: f H

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

'(No Model.)

S. HENSHALL.

KNITTING MACHINE.

8 0O 0O 1 1 3 y l u u d e t n e t a P FIG/6% N. PHERS,PImlbLhMgr-lpllnr, wmin wn. ma

UNITED STATES ATENT Fries...

KNITTING- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 386,821, dated July 31,1888.

Application filed October '7, 1884. Renewed March 12, 1886. Againrenewed November 20, 1886. Again renewed October :5.

1887. Serial No. 253,334.

T 0 aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL HENSHALL, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Knitting-hllachines,of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of certain combina' tions of mechanism, fullydescribed and claimed hereinafter. for operating the cams of aknitting-machine in such a manner that the work on the needles can benarrowed or widened to any desired extent without disturbing any of theneedles, the operation of widening and narrowing being, if desired,performed automatically.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a longitudinalsection of a circularknitting machine with my improvements, the sectionbeing on the line 1 2, Fig. 3, but showing driving-gearing, bed-plate,and devices heneath the latter not shown in said figure; Fig. 2, asectional plan view, partly on the line 3 4 and partly on the line 5 6,Fig. 1; Fig. 3, Sheet 2, a plan view of the necdleeylinder and outercasing; Fig. 4, a sectional plan on the line 7 S, Fig. 1, the partsbeing in the position shown in Fig. 3, and nothing below the line 3 4,Fig. 1, being shown; Fig. 5, a longitudinal section of the outer casingand camcylinder, the cams and the means for operating the same beingshown in elevation; Fig. 6, Sheet 3, a similar view with one of the camsin a different positiomand showing means whereby the cam is held in thisposition. Figs. 7 to 14, inclusive, Sheets 2 and 4, detached views ofparts of the machine, and Figs. 15 to 19, Sheet 3, views illustratingmodifications of parts of the machine.

A is the fixed frame or casing of the machine, to which is bolted anarm, A, having bearings for the driving-shaft B and a vertical shaft, B,the latter being driven from the shaft B by means of bevel-wheels B Band carrying at its upper end a spunwheel, 13*, which engages with aspur-wheel, B formed on or secured to the needle-cylinder D, which issupported in the casing A, so as to be free to turn therein.

\Vithin the casing A, and surrounding the needle-cylinder, as usual, isthe cam-cylinder (No model.)

F, within which, in the present instance, are five cams, G, H, H, l, andI. The cam G is permanently secured to the cylinder F, as its functionis to elevate the needles, which must always be raised to the sameheight. The cams H H are depressing-cams, and are carried by blocks H H,guided in the cylinder F, and provided with bolts to, adapted to slots ain the casing A, so that the cams II can be adjusted vertically toregulate the descent of the needles and vary the length of loop drawnthereby, as usual.

The cams l 1 are carried by blocks 1. I, also guided in the cylinder F,and each of these blocksis provided with a bolt, Z), adapted to a slot,I), in the casing A, and provided with athumbnut, b, by which the blockand the cam carried thereby can be secured in position on the cylinderwhen desired. (See Fig. 1.)

Each of the cams I I has at the lower end a projection, (I, one end ofwhich isacted upon by a spring, 6, the other end of the projectionresting on an arm, f, pivoted by a bolt, f, to the casing A. To each armf is pivoted a pawl, g, which is free to swing in one direction, shownin Fig. 6, but cannot move in the opposite direction, owing to thebearing of the upper end of the pawl against a lug, i, on the arm.

The lower portion of the needle cylinder 1) has formed therein anannular recess, h, for the reception of two rings, J and K, which fit sosnugly in the cylinder that they will be carried round by the same as itrotates, and each of the rings has a rack formed upon it, the internalrack, J, of the outer ring, J, gearing into a pinion, J", and theexternal rack, K, of the inner ring, K, into a pinion, K", so that byturning the pinions a movement of the rings independent of theneedle-cylinder can be effected, the movement of the rings being inopposite directions, owing to the fact that one has an internal and theother an external rack.

Both of the pinions J and K are carried by a shaft, L, adapted tobearings in a ring, M, a flange on which is fitted to the lower portionof the recess in the casin g A beneath the needlecylinder. The ring M issecured to the needlecylinder by a thumb-screw, j, passing through IOO aslot, 70, in the ring, so that the needle-cylinder can be adjusted inrespect to the ring to an extent limited by the length of this slot andof a slot, 7c, formed in the flange of said cylinder for the receptionof the shaft L. The extent of the slots is and It should be a littlemore than one-half of the circumference of the ring and cylinder, asshown in Fig. 2 and by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 11.

Secured to the under side ofthe ring M is a frame, N, in which arebearings for a shaft, P, connected by bevel-wheels p to the shaft L, theouter end of said shaft P carrying two ratchet-wheels, P P, oneright-handed and the other left-handed, as shown in Figs. 13 and '13".

On the under side of the casing A are two ratchet P, the pawl 1 beingfree from engagement with the bottom of the ratchet P"; but when theslide is elevated the pawl 1' will be brought into engagement with theratchet P and the pawl r will be out of engagement with the ratchet P.There is also on the under side of the casing A another bar, Q, similarto the bar Q and occupying the relation thereto shown in Fig. 11, saidbar Q having a slot, g, for the reception of the stem q of a slide, R,which carries the pawls r and 1*, similar to those of the slide R, thepawl r, however, acting on the bottom of the ratchet-wheel 1? when theslide is raised and the pawl r acting on the top of the ratchet-wheel]?when the slide is depressed. The pawls, it should be understood, areelastic, so that they will act on their respective ratchet-wheels onlywhen moving forward, .and will yield so as to have no effect on saidwheels when moving backward. 7

To prevent the accidental movement of the shaft L, the latter isfurnished with a notched disk, on, and a detent, m, is hung to the ringM, so that it will engage with the said notched disk, a spring, mtending to keep it in engagement therewith. As the needle-cylinderrotates in either direction, however, the detent is struck-by cams m onthe under side of the casing A, so as to release the disk at from thecontrol of said detentjust before the shafts L and P are turned by theaction of the pawland-ratchet mechanism described, the disk being againlocked by the detent, however, as soon as the movement of the shafts iscompleted.

Carried by the ring J are three rings, V, three similar rings, W, beingcarried by the inner ring, K, and each of these rings has a projectionon the top, the projections uniting to form a rib, to, which can beexpanded or contracted in length by a proper movement of the rings, asdescribed hereinafter. The outer ring V is secured to the ring J, butthe other rings V simply rest thereon, a pin on said outer ring beingadapted to a slot in the adjacent ring V, and a pin on the latter to asimilar slot in the innermost ring V. In the same manner the inner ringW is secured to the ring K, the other rings W resting on said ring K,and a pin on the inner ring W being adapted to a slotin the adjacentring, a pin on which is adapted to a like slot in the outermost ring W.By this arrangement of rings with pins and slots the rib to can beexpanded from the condition shown in Fig. 7 to that shownin Fig.8 orcontracted from the condition shown in Fig. 8 to that shown in Fig. 7 bysimply rotating the pinions J K in one direction or the other. Thus,supposing the rib to be fully expanded, as shown in Fig. 8,

then transmitted to the latter, and this movement being in turntransmit-ted to the inner ring V and outer ring W when the pins of theintermediate rings V and W reach the ends of the slots in said innerring V and outer ring W, the rib-sections being all in line with eachother, as shown in Fig. 7, by the time the movement is completed. Agradual expansion of the rib, as will be evident, can be effected by amovement of the pinions and rings in the opposite direction.

The operation of the machine is as follows: For the production of plainwork, the needlecylinder is revolved continuously in onedirection (sayin the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1) and the cam I is elevated, asshown in Fig. 6, and secured in this elevated position by means of thebolt 1) and nut b so that all of the needles will be directed to andcompelled to pass over the cam G. The slides R R are so adjusted.

that the pawls rr of both slides are out of engagement with the ratchetsP and P, so that, independent of their movement with the ncedlecylinder,there is no movement of the shafts P and L or of the rings carrying thesections of the rib w, the rings occupying the position shown in Figs. 8and 10, so that the ribsections are fully extended, having been moved tothis position before starting the machine or left in this position atthe completion of aprevious narrowing and widening operation. The ribpasses beneath the armsf on each rotation of the cylinder, but does notcause any operation of the cams, the cam I being elevated and the armfbeneath the cam 1 not being lifted, owing to the yielding of the pawl gof the same, as shown in Fig. 6. \Vhen it is desired to perform thenarrowing and widening operation, (such, for instance, as may berequiredin forming the heel or toe in a stocking) the nut b upon thestem of the block I of the cam I is loosened and said cam allowed todescend, so that its projection d is supported by the arm f. Thecylinder D is now vibrated to the extent of, say, three-quarters of aturn, and the support formed by the rib w is carried back and forthbeneath the pawls g of the arms f. In moving in the direction of thearrow, Fig. 6, the cam I will be elevated, as shown, so as to direct theneedles to the cam G, and will be held in this position as long as thesupportingrib is passing under the pawl g of the arm f, which acts uponthe said cam I, the pawl g of the armf, which acts on the cam I,however, yielding during this movement, as shown, so that said cam l isnot elevated. On the backward movement, however, the cam I will beelevated and the cam I allowed to remain down. Before commencing tovibrate the cylinder D the slides R and R must have been adjusted sothat the pawl r of the slide R will be in position to engage wit-h thetop of the ratchetwheel I as the cylinder reaches the limit of itsmovement in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 11, the pawl r of the otherslide, R, engaging with the bottom of said ratchetwheel P when thecylinder reaches the limit of its movement in the opposite direction.There will consequently be a slight forward movement oftheshaftPasthecylinderreaehes the limit of its movement in eitherdirect-ion, this movement being transmitted through the medium of theshaft L to the pinions J K, so as to cause a movement in oppositedirections of the rings J and K. This movement is in the direction ofthe arrows, Fig. 8, and effects a s ight contraction in the length ofthe rib w, the gradual contraction in the length of the rib w as thecylinder reaches the limit of its vibration in either directioncontinuing until the rib has'been shortened to the desired extent,whereupon the slidcs R R are reversed that is to say, they are moved tosuch a position that the pawl r of the slide R engages with the bottomof the ratchet-wheel P and the pawl a of the slide It with the top ofthe same. As the wheel P is toothed in a direction the reverse of thewheel P, itfollows that the vibration of the cylinder will now effect amovement of the shafts P and L and rings J, K, V, and \V in directionsthe reverse of those above described, and thereby cause a gradualexpansion in the length of the rib 20, this expansion continuing untilthe rib has been restored to its full length. It being understood thatwhen the cams I Iare down the bits of the needles pass beneath the camG, it will be seen that the number of needles elevated on each vibrationof the needle cylinder depends upon the extent of the rib w, and as thisrib is gradually contracted in length and then gradually widened itfollows that on each vibration of the cylinder an end needle or needlesof the set will be dropped or allowed to remain down, these end needlesbeing then gradually brought into action again after the contraction hasbeen carried to the proper extent. After the narrowing and wideningoperation has been completed the slides R R are adjusted so as to throwboth sets of pawls, r 1". out of engagement with the rat chetwvheels PP, the cam I being then again secured in its elevated position and theknitting of the complete tube proceeded with as before; or, if it isdesired to perform thenarrowing and widening operation on the other halfof the tube, the thumb-screw j may be loosened and the cylinder D turnedon the ring M to the extent of a halfrevolution, the rings J and K beingprevented from turning with the cylinder, owing to the fact that theyare held by the shaft L and pinions J and K", so that on again vibratingthe needle-cylinder the needles acted on by the cams I 1 will be thoseon the half of the cylinder opposite that carrying the needles whichwere previously acted on. When it is desired to change atonce fromcontinuous fabric to a narrow strip and widen therefrom, the rings J andK should be moved so that the sections of the rib will be in thecontracted position shown in Fig. 7 before commencing the vibration ofthe needle cylinder, and the slides R B should be so set that the pawlsr" are in position to engage with the ratchet-wheel P",and thus effectthe extension of the rib as the cylinderisvibraled,theslides beingshifted when the extension is complete, so as to effect a gradualcontraction of the rib on continuing the vibration of the cylinder.

It will be observed on reference to Fig. 1 that the upper slottedportion of the needlecylinder in which the needles are guided is madeconical or tapering, being widest at the base. The object of thisconstruction is to provide an increased circumference of cylinder at thelower portion,where the devices for oper ating the cams arelocated, sothatthe machine may be made of fine gage without unduly contracting thespace in which these camoperating devices are compelled to work.

Where a very quick movement of the cams I. I is desired, I prefer toadopt the construction shown in Figs. and 16. In this case each movableportion of the cam is made of two parts, :0 at, each carried by a block,l these blocks being suitably guided in the cylinder F, so that inadjusting the cam the blocks may be moved in opposite direction thenecessary movement of each part being only half that which is requiredin moving the single cann-for instance, a movement of each of the partsor 00' to an extent of one half of the width of the cam-slot only isneeded to change from the position shown at the left of Fig. 15, whichdirects the bits of the needles beneath the cam G to the position shownat the right of said figure, which directs the needles over said cam.The two earn-blocks are hung to the opposite ends of a lever, 3 pivotedto the cylinder F, and having an arm, y, for bearing on the armf.

I have described my invention in connection with a circular-knittingmachine; but it will be evident that the devices may be combined with astraightknitting machine without change in construction, and only suchchange in shape and arrangementas is necessit-ated by the difference inthe shape and movement of the machine.

The use of the armsf is not absolutely essential to the proper carryingout of my invention, as the cam-blocks may have pawls, as shown-in Fig.17, to be acted on directly by the rib w, and the expansion andcontraction of this rib may be effected by hand where an automaticaction is not desired. For instance, the shaft L may be furnished with apinion gearing into a segmental rack on an arm, Y, as shown in Fig. 18,and a suitable dial, Y, may bensed to indicate the proper extent ofmovement of the arm.

Fig. 19 illustrates an arrangement of cams in which the fixed centralcam, G, is dispensed with, the two cams l I being placed side by sideand being lifted or. allowed to remain down, according as it is dtSll'Cdto operate the needles or allow them to remain out of action.

My invention is shown as applied to a machine in which the cam-ring isstationary and the needle-cylinder rotates; but it is applicable,also,tothat class of machines in which the needle'cylinder is stationary andthe cam-ring rotates; hence I wish it to be understood that my claimsare not limited to a machine having a moving needle-cylinder and fixedcamring, but cover the alternate construction as well.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the frame, the needlecarrier and its needles, needle-actuating cams movable into or out ofvoperative position, a supporting-rib for the cams, and means forcontracting and expanding said rib, all substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

2. The combination of the frame, the needlecarrier and its needles,needle-actuating cams movable into or out of operative position, the

' pawls g, the supporting-rib, and means for expanding and contractingthe latter, as set forth.

3. The combination ofthe frame, the needlecarrier'and its needles,necdleactuating-cams movable into or out of operative position, thepivoted arms f, having pawls g, the supporting-rib w, and means forexpanding and con tractiug the latter, as specified.

4.. The combination of the frame, the needlecarrier and its needles,needle actuating cams movable into or out of operative position, a fixedliftingcam, G, located between the movable cams, a supportingrib, w, forsaid movable cams, and means for expanding and contracting said rib, asset forth.

and contracting the same, and means for locking one or both of themovable cams in the elevated or operative position, as set forth.

6. The combination of the frame, the needle carrier and its needles,needle-actuating cams movable into or out of operative position, the ribw, a series of rings, V and W, each carrying a section of the rib, anddevices for moving the rings of one set in one direction and those ofthe other set in the opposite direction, as set forth.

7. The combination of the rings J and K, having racks J K, the pinions JK, the pin ion-shaft L, the shaft P, having ratchets P P, gearingconnecting the shafts L and P, and adjustable pawls for engaging saidratehets, as set forth.

8. The combination of the rings J K, having racks J K, the pinions J K",the pinionsh aft L, the shaft P, having ratchets P P,

gearing connecting the shafts L and P, and the adjustable slides R R,having pawls r r, as set forth.

9. The combination of the frame, the needle cylinder and its operatingmechanism, the cams I l,-the rings J K, having rib-sections and racks,the shaft L and its pinions, pawlandratchet mechanism for operating theshaft, notched disk m, the detent m, and cams m, as specified.

10. The combination of the frame and nee dle-cylinder, the cams I I, therib w, and mechanism for expanding and contracting the rib, the saidneedle-cylinder being adjustable in respect to the portion of the framecarrying the rib and its operating mechanism, so as to widen and narrowon either or both sides ofa tube, as set forth.

11. The combination of the frame, the conical needle-carrier and itsneedles, needle-actuating cams movable into or out of operativeposition, a supportingrib for the movable cams, and devices forexpanding and contracting the rib, said rib and its operating devicesbeing located adjacent to the lower portion of the cylinder, where itsdiameter is greatest, as set forth.

Intestimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAML. HENSHALL.

\Vitnesses:

JOHN M. CLAYTON, HARRY DRURY. o

ICO

